How Animals Are Rapidly Evolving Because of Climate Change | WIRED

Imagine going in to clean the hotel room or something and there's a man blowing lizards off a stick with a leaf blower

This guy is explaining this with pure geniuine joy, makes the video even better.

Anole Lizard to his wife: “You WOULD NOT believe the day I’ve had today…”

Can we get this guy his own series? The world NEEDS more Thor Hanson!

Glad to see this guy return. He's so enthusiastic about his profession

0:03 I am honestly surprised that Geico hasn't made this into a commercial about the gecko getting blown away by how low the prices are.

The shorter the animal species lifespan is, the faster the rate of their species evolution due to how many generations it can produce in such a short period.

How stressful it must be to be an environmental scientist at this time -- knowing that the planet is slipping faster and faster towards another mass extinction event and that normal people just don't understand the severity of it

Wired is really nailing their ability to find really interesting people who LOVE their profession, and it really makes topics like this so interesting to people who previously had no interest, myself included. Rock on 🤟

Definitely would have watched him on Animal Planet back in the day.

He's so casual but practical about the things he says. He doesn't push any narratives just explaining facts in a digestive way.

Here in Texas the brown anole is taking over and the green anole numbers are shrinking. The sheer number of brown anoles is having a major impact on the insect population as well. They are faster, more nimble, more aggressive and less picky about what they eat. All of the green anoles are staying higher in the trees while the brown anoles stay on the ground. Some hybrids exist but are few and far between. During the peak of summer, it's difficult to walk down a sidewalk without stepping on a brown anole. In urban areas, they almost blanket the ground in some areas. The overall size of our local mosquitoes has increased. We have much more snake activity in the spring. Mold is becoming an issue and several unique species of mushrooms are becoming more predominant. Beauty berry bushes are popping up everywhere while wildflowers are dwindling. A couple of weeks ago I almost stepped on a Water Mocassin that was uncomfortably sunbathing IN DECEMBER. That poor snake was starving and confused. It was practically incapable of moving in the 85° heat of winter. Climate change "debunkers" are past the point of forgiveness.

As someone who is studying biological sciences at university, I am particularly fond of these biology-based videos, keep them coming!

I really need him to have a science show. Just the pure passion you can hear in his voice is so amazing. Had I had him as teacher when I was a kid I might have actually pursued a science career.

This should have diminishing returns in the shir term, right…? They’re only able to make these adaptations because they already had some diversity in their populations, and that diversity decreases when parts of their populations die off. They would need more time to diversify again, and they may not be given that time if they are hit by too many events too quickly.

Just imagine a nature documantary with David Attenborough & Thor Hanson together. I would love it!

Thor Hanson has such a soothing voice. You can hear the joy & passion as he talks about biology. 👍

I love phenotypic plasticity in animals, its so fascinating seeing how animals are so different even in the same region

One thing about the lizard experiment is that it wasn't accurate, lizards aren't holding onto smooth dowels in the wild, they hold onto living trees that have rough bark that gives them much better footholds, the scientist should have used a piece of tree branch similar size to the dowel instead.

The genuine joy this man has for his profession is fantastic and very important in getting people interested about such a dire issue. Wired has been nailing it recently with interesting and enthusiastic people!